2010 Tundra Limited Truck 5.7l V8 Dvd Platinum Package Navigation Backup Camera on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Toyota Yaris iA, Mazda CX-3 sales show crossover formula isn't an automatic win

While 2017 was another watershed year for crossovers, in one interesting case, a crossover had its lunch eaten by its sedan counterpart. In the past year, Toyota sold nearly 36,000 Yaris iAs, a sedan that is identical to the foreign-market Mazda2 in everything but Toyota's ugly front bumper. In the same time frame, Mazda sold just over 16,000 CX-3s, a subcompact crossover based on the Mazda2. Not only that, but the Yaris iA saw an increase of around 8,000 units over 2016, and the CX-3 sold about 2,000 fewer units than in 2016. View 29 Photos There are a few reasons this is surprising. First of course is that the crossover market is surface-of-the-sun hot right now, so much so that primarily crossover-building brand Subaru saw its best sales year ever last year. Even Mazda's other crossovers, the CX-5 and CX-9 saw better sales in 2017 than in 2016. But on paper, the CX-3 has a number of advantages compared to the Yaris iA. The CX-3 has a larger 2.0-liter four-cylinder that makes about 40 more horsepower than the 1.5-liter engine in the Toyota. Also, while the cargo area behind the rear seats in the CX-3 is about one cubic foot smaller than the iA, it has the added flexibility of being a hatchback, and thus having more capability when it comes to large, bulky items. And of course, the CX-3 is quite a shapely machine compared with the awkward, angry-looking iA. That's not to say the iA doesn't have any of its own advantages. It gets 3 more mpg in the city and 6 more on the highway than the CX-3. It also costs roughly $3,000 to $4,000 less than a CX-3 and can be found at more dealers than the Mazda. But it's still surprising that a car, especially a sedan, can outsell a mechanically very similar crossover. Apparently the formula of adding more ground clearance and plastic fenders isn't foolproof. Then again, maybe it's not such a big deal to Mazda, since the CX-3's total sales were just over a tenth that of the Mazda CX-5. Related Video:

New version of Toyota FT-1 Concept gets racy for Gran Turismo 6

Gran Turismo 6 has been the preferred marketing springboard for quite a few brands and concept cars since its debut last winter. Specifically the GT Vision concept idea - allowing manufacturers a built-in place to offer up new, original, drivable content - has enticed the likes of Mercedes, Nissan, Volkswagen, Toyota and more to dream big on the digital stage before pulling the sheets back on real concept cars.
In fact, Toyota teamed its live reveal of the FT-1 Concept at the Detroit Auto Show with an in-game launch of the car, just this past January. Looking for a second bite at the GT6 apple, Toyota has just released a teaser video for a new, FT-1 Vision GT version of the same concept.
The company isn't giving us much to go on save for the 30-second video, saying only that the concept was penned by Toyota's Calty Design Research team in California, and that it will "soon be available for download." By the looks of it, the new FT-1 seems to be more of a racecar than the original, without obvious changes to the basic form. No word on whether or not there's a physical concept car in the offing at a yet-to-be-named auto show. Stay tuned.

Toyota racks up $18-billion profit

Toyota is looking strong at the end of the fiscal year with its net revenue showing six percent growth to the equivalent of $227 billion. Operating income grew to $23 billion in that period, a 20-percent jump, and net income increased to $18.1 billion, a 19-percent advancement. The company attributes the positive numbers to cost reductions and the weak yen compared to other currencies. Toyota increased its operating income in every major region, but despite these ballooning figures, total sales globally actually fell slightly to almost 9 million – 144,149 fewer than last year. The automaker's biggest division in terms of units was North America, and it accounted for 2.7-million vehicles during the fiscal year. Operating income amounted to $4.5 billion there. Meanwhile, Japan ranked as the most lucrative territory. Sales there fell by about 200,000 vehicles to a total of 2.15 million. However, operating income for the fiscal year more than doubled to $13.1 billion. In its forecasts for the next fiscal year, Toyota predicts global sales to remain roughly the same as this year at 8.9 million vehicles. Net revenue and net income are expected to make slight gains, though. Related Video: TMC Announces Financial Results for Fiscal Year Ended March 31, 2015 (All consolidated financial information has been prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles) Toyota City, Japan, May 8, 2015-Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) today announces its financial results for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2015. Consolidated vehicle sales totaled 8,971,864 units, a decrease of 144,169 units compared to the previous fiscal year. On a consolidated basis, net revenues for the period totaled 27.23 trillion yen, an increase of 6.0 percent. Operating income increased from 2.2921 trillion yen to 2.7505 trillion yen, while income before income taxes1 was 2.8928 trillion yen. Net income2 increased from 1.8231 trillion yen to 2.1733 trillion yen. Operating income increased by 458.4 billion yen. Major factors contributing to the increase included currency fluctuations of 280.0 billion yen and cost reduction efforts of 280.0 billion yen.